Why Use the PCMH Model? It Helps Quality Improvement
May 1, 2019 · Amy Maciejowski
As major purchasers of health care, states are charged with keeping costs low and improving the efficiency of care delivered throughout the state.
To help them accomplish their goals, states often turn to evidence-based initiatives to improve quality and lower costs. Many of these initiatives focus on primary care.
In a recent report, the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) affirms that states play a major role in advancing new models of care delivery that enable more efficient use of primary care providers.
NASHP outlines various strategies states can use to facilitate quality improvement in primary care. One of the levers they point to—-the patient-centered medical home, or PCMH.
PCMH Model at Work
NASHP references the PCMH model as one that is organized to improve quality and practice, provider and patient experience. As an example, NASHP focuses on Oregon’s Patient-Centered Primary Care Homes program, which accepts NCQA PCMH Recognition and has reduced per patient service expenditures by approximately 4.2 percent, or $41 per person per quarter.
But Oregon is not the only state that has explored the PCMH model to improve quality. Twenty-nine public-sector medical home initiatives across 24 states require or offer incentives for earning NCQA PCMH Recognition. For specifics on these initiatives, consult the Directory of Incentives.
Read NASHP’s full report here.
